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Professor Alan Lehmann CBE FRS FMedSci

Job Title
Professor of Molecular Genetics
Department
Genome Damage and Stability Centre
Institution
University of Sussex
Year elected
2004

Interests

Specialities

Mechanisms of DNA repair and its role in cancer and other aspects of human health

Section committee elected by

Cellular and developmental biology, microbiology and immunology, genetics

Online Information

Lab Website

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Professor Lehmann is Chairman of the Genome Damage and Stability Centre, University of Sussex. He has made a series of major contributions to the field of DNA repair, which have helped establish its importance in human health and disease. In 1975 he showed that cells from the variant form of xeroderma pigmentosum were defective in their ability to replicate damaged DNA. He went on to identify an individual with a defect in DNA ligase. In Cockayne syndrome he showed that after UV irradiation cells failed to recover RNA synthesis to normal levels and suggested that this was due to a deficiency of a transcription-coupled repair process. This has led to the establishment of a robust diagnostic test for the condition. Recently he has identified that DNA polymerase eta is defective in the variant form of xeroderma pigmentosum and showed that certain of the mutations affect correct localisation of the protein. This work provided insights into how the syndrome arises and has resulted in the development of a diagnostic test. Professor Lehmann's findings have played a major role in highlighting the importance of DNA repair in man, identifying the causative defects in several human disorders and relating the defects to the clinical phenotypes.

 
 
 
 
 
 
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